When Tanke used his flanking position to try and hit the Sui Lion with its Warhammer from the back, the Nian underling worked its hind legs to kick the Panda Guardian away.
Tanke thought that merely blocking would suffice, but surprisingly the Panda Guardian got knocked backwards from the impact and even fell on his back from the attack. The others had also not expected this kind of strength only strengthening their belief that this one must be some veteran version, Sui Lion.
Bu Dong took the opportunity to dash forth and attack its side. However, the Sui Lion once again reacted in time and turned around to use its front paw to block the attack. The fire from Bu Dong’s chi technique hurt, yet it was better than getting slashed by the side.
Despite its reaction speed, the Sui Lion was fully occupied with the close quarter combatants missing the incoming fire bolt shot by Archy’s crossbow. “Bullseye.” Archy proclaimed as he reloaded his weapon. As soon as the coast seemed to be safe Yue Wen proceeded to heal her brother.
“Let’s not take any chances!” Bu Dong thought and smashed his fist onto the Sui Lion’s face while adjusting himself for a stab at the monster’s neck. Tanke rolled on the ground like any Panda would, and while holding on his Warhammer, he used the rolling momentum to stand up. It would probably take too much time to stand up if Tanke did the ‘normal’ way and even more to cover the same amount of distance. The Panda Guardian then used his newly recovered strength to hurl his Warhammer at the monster’s legs, attempting to cripple it so that it would be unable to defend itself any longer.
Despite the struggle of either getting bitten by the Sui Lion or being mawed by its paw, Bu Dong successfully plunged his sword into the Sui Lion’s neck. He then tried to block the Sui Lion’s mouth with his hand by pushing it away during its attempt to bite, but its giant paw inadvertently swiped hard towards Bu Dong.
“Fuck! His paw attack hurts so fucking bad! URGH!” Bu Dong cursed as he retracted his left arm to block against the paw while ensuring that its claws did not plunge into his flesh. The Angry Ape Cultivator even went sidewards to prevent the Sui Lion’s series of angry biting.
Meanwhile, Yue Han had healed to a point where he could sit upright, and as soon as he came to his senses, he immediately noticed the third one and shouted out a grim reminder: “THERE ARE THREE OF THEM!!!”
It startled the party for a moment, but not the Sui Lion who had been hiding within the side cave and took this scream as his sign to attack. Yue Wen instinctively reached for the pistol at her side waist, but she recalled that she had yet to reload the near-empty pistol, causing her to hesitate about whether to use the longbow or not.
It was rare for the Pandawans to react so slowly, but the System deduced it was most likely because of the environment and their lack of spatial awareness. Cave fighting was not as easy as one might think, especially for someone without any prior experience in that regard. The Pandawan group had no idea where the cave crevices were and had been unprepared how significant the influence of little light would be in the way they had to fight.
A loud screech was heard, this time from Archy who uncharacteristically stood up from his lazy sitting position and countered the Sui Lion with raw strength. His mini workshop of tools and arrows were flung away along with his crossbow just to intercept the third Sui Lion. Those two animals tousled and grappled furiously while the party members tried to regain their pace in combat.
For the whole trip, this was the first time Archy was seen being so aggressive as it tried to counter pin the Sui Lion but, unlike Tanke, it barely had the strength to match the Sui Lion on equal grounds. However, thanks to his quick and decisive direct interference, Archy saved his other party members from certain death. Seeing how powerless she was, Yue Wen decided to step up her game and ditch her pistol as well as the longbow she borrowed from Archy and reached for her sword crane along her waist.
The Healing Maiden Cultivator initially wanted to help out as a long-range supporter since the group did not want her to get injured when she was the only capable person able to perform emergency heals. But in these circumstances, when their secondary fighter was incapacitated, it was better to work on something she was proficient with.
She pulled her sword crane out and aimed the Sui Lion’s neck as it continued to suppress Archy, but when it detected the threat coming towards it, the Sui Lion looked up and roared at her. It did stagger her momentarily, but Yue Wen knew she needed to do something to turn the tide or else Archy’s intervention might turn into his sacrifice.
“Take this! Intermediate Sword Art, Maiden’s Mirroring Stab!” Yue Wen shouted back as she closed one of her ears to prevent too much pain and moved forward in a zig-zag motion. At that point, Archy decided to fight back since the Sui Lion was currently not breathing down on him. Despite being pinned down with the beast’s claws plunged into his arms, he bit down towards the Sui Lion right shoulder.
The Sui Lion squirmed a little, and that caused its claws to dig deeper into Archy, and in turn, the Panda could not help but release his bite due to the pain. However, that was sufficient time for Yue Wen’s attack to proceed without interference as the zig-zag motion caused multiple images of her to appear, and they simultaneously jumped to attack the Sui Lion.
While they might just be mirror images of Yue Wen, her chi energy existed in all of them, providing them 1/3rd of piercing strength of her usual attacks. So, with the mirror images attacking at all sides, the Sui Lion got injured to the point it let go of the Panda Mercenary. The blinding flashing lights from the mirror images of the Healing Maiden’s cultivation style was also troublesome for the Sui Lion, causing it to abandon the fight and retreat.
“Oh no, you are not going anywhere.” Yue Han announced as he emerged from the shadows and jumped from the cave’s ceiling and stabbed the Lion’s head from above. He then used his chi energy to push the blade further down, causing blood and brain matter to be pouring out from the wound.
As for Tanke and Bu Dong, they too had cleared their share of monsters, and they regrouped with the others to heal their wounds. “Damn it, Sis. That was freaking dangerous!” Yue Han complained after he made sure the beast underneath him was killed.
“How could I’ve known that a pistol would be that deafening loud within a tunnel? I’m sorry about that. I swear I didn’t do it on purpose.” Yue Wen apologised as she retracted her hands from Archy seeing that the wound had already close. With one of the new life potions, the Panda Archer was able to move again in no time.
“While, I’d like to stay here and complain about our mistakes in the battle, its best we quickly find the hostages before more of them show up and take their food stock back.” Bu Dong warned as he impatiently waited for the healing to be done. He suddenly felt his confidence from earlier had been hampered by the previous encounter with these veteran Sui Lions. If they were already that difficult, didn’t that mean their Boss would be even more demanding?
“Just give them a little more time. I can’t sniff any more of Nian underlings in the cave. Besides, it’s better to have a competent party than an injured one.” Tanke said as he checked his armour to ensure it was secured properly.
“I am actually more afraid of another possibility. According to what I heard other Pandarens say there’s a chance that Nian might appear after each side quest.” Bu Dong replied, and Tanke snorted.
“All the more reason for us to be mending our wounds before moving forth.” Tanke insisted and calmed Bu Dong down to the best of its AI capabilities.
